Rains should reduce the record crop of sugar cane in central-southern Brazil – Unica

Sao Paulo, June (Reuters) – The final volume of sugar cane ground in the 2008/09 season in central-southern Brazil, which in April was estimated at almost half a billion tons, should be jeopardized by the excess of rain so far, according to the Sugar Cane Industry Union (Unica) on Monday.

Processing of this crop started in March and since then it has been delayed by the excessive moisture which should end up leaving more cane to be ground next season. Up to May 15th, 43.2 million tons of sugar cane had been harvested, which is 5.07% less than in the same period last year.

In April Unica expected to grind 15% more sugar cane then in the last crop, which was a record.

“When we analyze figures up to the end of May, around 15% of the crop had been harvested. There have already been losses. We are not going to have an increase in grinding and the quality of the raw material should be inferior”, the Unica technical director, Antonio de Padua Rodrigues stated.

Up to May 15th, the average yield of cane was 8.9% below what was registered in the same period last year, also because of the humid weather.

The grinding of cane in central-southern Brazil officially starts on 1st April and continues until December, when the rainy season normally starts and it is not possible to work in the fields.

Up to May 15th, 63.9% of the sugar cane that was processed was destined to the production of ethanol, also due to climatic conditions and by the growing demand for the fuel, according to Unica. Historically, only half of the cane processed in the region is destined to the production of ethanol.

The production of sugar totalled 1.64 million tons up to May 15th, a reduction of 25.3% over the same period last year.

The volume of ethanol produced reached 1.78 billion litres, a reduction of 4.9% over the same period in 2007.

The sector traditionally produces more ethanol that sugar in the initial phase of the crop since the level of saccharose in the sugar cane tends to be lower.
(Report by Inaê Riveras).